Tachikawa-ryu
Tachikawa-ryu is a Japanese school of Mikkyō of Shingon Buddhism founded in 1114 by the monk Ninkan in an attempt to create a Japanese tradition corresponding to Indian tantra.
Overview
Tachikawa-ryu is a former branch of Shingon Mikkyo founded by the monk Ninkan. In another unorthodox branch of Shingon, Ono-ryu. As such it is a school of esoteric Buddhism founded on the principal of using energy to control supernatural and cosmic forces and through these energetic rites and rituals to attain enlightenment. Tachikawa-ryu is no different in its approach except that it chooses to focus on sexual energy thus belonging to left-hand tantra.Its use of ritual sexual energy and accusations of involvement in so called "black" magic, the school was frowned upon by orthodox Shingon leaders, and its monks were frequently sent into exile. The monk Yūkai is generally credited with taking the lead on extirpating the Tachikawa-ryu school from Shingon.
Tachikawa-ryu was, like Shingon, based in vajrayana-tantra which were very close in style to Hevajra and Candamaharosana Tantra-based consecrations that had in 10th and 11th centuries. In contradistinction to the "mixed esotericism" of Tantra, of which two medieval movements were termed jakyo. One of these, injected into Shingon from Tibet via Chinese Daoism, was the Tachikawa-ryu. Unlike its orthodox cousin it was much more inclined towards 'secret' left-hand tantra rituals with its usage of sexual energy as a method to attain bliss. Ninkan primarily used, founder of Shingon, Kōbō Daishi's text sokushin jōbutsu to support his ideologies and views. This caused discontent in the orthodox followers.
Since most Tachikawa-ryu texts were destroyed much of its history and teachings must be reconstructed. The institutes who do have Tachikawa-ryu texts and information pertaining to the school are generally unsympathetic and hostile towards Tachikawa-ryu ideologies and therefore refuse to lend any sort of help to the matter.
History
The school was founded in 1113 by the Shingon monk Ninkan associated with Daigo-ji Temple, was exiled from Koyasan to the province of Izu after getting caught on the wrong side of a political dispute. In Izu, he met an Onmyoji master from "Musashi no Tachikawa " named Kenren. Together the two created the school of Tachikawa-ryu.Ninkan taught mikkyo to specialist in yin-yang and Yijing divination in Musashi region, and regarded as a founder of Tachikawa-ryu, a heretical Shingon sect. Whether or not they can credited to Ninkan himself, the Taoist elements in Fuju shu rituals are plain to see, and would appear at least early Muromachi period. The Fuju shu represents the practice of Tozan-ha which is one of the main lineages in Shugendo. In the Muromachi period Tozan-ha are under the administrative control of the Sambō-in at Daigoji. Ninkan, a younger brother of Shokaku, the founder of the famous Sambo-in at Daigoji.
Tachikawa-ryu must have been largely created within the few months Ninkan was exiled and committed suicide. Many historians believe he is mentioned simply as an apocryphal figure. Regardless, he would have had to draw on ideas already prevalent in Japanese society and within the orthodox branches of Shingon-shū at the time, as there simply was not enough time for him to develop an entirely new branch and ideology before he died. Ninkan committed suicide less than a year later in 1114 by throwing himself off a cliff in protest, and it was left to Kenren to propagate the school.
It appears from the historical record that Tachikawa-ryu was very widely accepted and practiced and by the middle of the 13th century during the Nanboku-chō period had become a major contender with the orthodox branch of Shingon. This marks what is considered the second period of the school. Beginning in the 13th century the orthodox branch of Shingon at Koyasan began a smear campaign against Tachikawa-ryu. This second period lasted until about 1500AD. The discrimination and attack by the orthodox branch at Koyasan reached its climax in about 1470AD.
From 1470-1500 marks the beginning of the third period, of the school. By this time the orthodox branch of Shingon had managed to formally denounce and excommunicate most teachings and practitioners of Tachikawa-ryu from its ranks. However, it was still very popular with the general populace. Tachikawa-ryu works were still published in works such as Sangi Isshin-ki, Fudō-son Gushō, and Konkō-shō. Tachikawa-ryu ideas and influences also appeared in cultic practices with Dual Ganesha and Aizen Myō-Ō, and in the other main orthodox school of mikkyo Tendai, in their extinct Genshi Kimyōdan cult. And also in the teachings and ideologies of Jodoshinshu, especially the Himitsu Nembutsu developed by Kakuban and Dōhan.
Theory and practice
The two main schools of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism are Shingon and Tendai. Tachikawa-ryu belonged to the first of these schools. It was injected into Shingon from Tibet via Taoism. First off, Tachikawa-ryu as a school of tantra is first and foremost a system of correspondences between microcosm and macrocosm. Thus Tachikawa-ryu, as Shingon and Tendai, can be thought of as a reintegration of the world into the soteriological path, since man and world, man and the universe, are now fundamentally the same. In any case it is important to realize that sexuality is of an eminently cosmological and ritual nature. The union of male and female principals is seen as the source of all phenomena, expressed as the union of the godhead with his divinity or consort who represents the source of his power and wisdom.In Tachikawa-ryu ritual sex is the primary hōben to enlightenment. Rites and rituals such as the famous Skull Ritual and the Horse Penis Ritual were initiations that involved the union of male with female to enact union with deity and sacred consort. These types of rituals aim to create and identify the practitioner with the deity/Emperor at the center of the mandala - which is the center of all tantric practice and theory.
The mandala is the tantric symbol of royal power, the seat of the Son of Heaven, the super position, the divine throne of High Jupiter. It is this notion that the king/emperor, standing at the center of his kingdom which he rules from the center mirrors the godhead’s heavenly celestial kingdom that the sex Rites and Rituals enacted by practitioners' of Tachikawa-ryu are aimed at creating. This royal ideology of "galactic polity", the "exemplary center" comprising the king, his deity and the capital, from which he rules, all united together as a single all encompassing force of divine high regality. Tachikawa-ryu practices, just as in orthodox Shingon, is aimed at enacting this esoteric union of macrocosmic and microcosmic and through their union create an idealized "utopia", the idealized constructed kingdom of the Godhead with the practitioners as King and Gods, self-made gods, in this case Dainichi Nyorai itself.
Dakini-ten was worshiped. In Shingon mikkyo, Dakini is an "evil", also a trickster or impish like spirit who is an associate of Enma-ten Yama Yamarāja the god of death.
Sacred texts (tantras)
The primary literature for all schools of orthodox Shingon are the Mahavairocana Tantra, the Vajrasekhara Sutra, the Adhyardhaśatikā Prajñāpāramitā Sutra, and the Susiddhikāra Sūtra. These are the four principle texts of Esoteric Buddhism. They are all Tantras, literally "treatise", "exposition".These texts played a vital role in Tachikawa-ryu as well. According to the author and Tachikawa-ryu historian John Stevens, perhaps the most important text to the ryūha, was the Sutra of Secret Bliss, the full title of which is Sutra Proclaiming the Secret Method Enabling a Man and a Woman to Experience the Bliss of Buddhahood in this Very Body. This sutra contains the school's general teachings concerning sexuality and its role in reaching enlightenment. It was Rishu-kyō.
Sutra of Secret Bliss
The text itself is a short tantra. It reads as follows:"Sexual intercourse between a man and a woman is the supreme buddha activity. Sex is the source of intense pleasure, the root of creation, necessary for every living being, and a natural act of regeneration. To be united as a man and woman is to united with Buddha."
The sound A represents the Womb Realm, Mother, great compassion, and the red lotus. The sound UN represents the Diamond Realm, father, wisdom, and the white stupa. A/Un represents is female/male, yin yang, ocean/mountain, mercy/charity, emptiness/form. The red seed from the female and the white seed from the male bring human beings into existence. The unity and integration of A/Un creates and sustains the universe. This is the truth, not falsehood.
Prior to performing these rites, the man and woman take these vows:
1) We trust in the teachings of the Tachikawa-ryu.
2) We vow to cooperate and come together in mutual accord in the body and mind at all times.
3) We vow to perform these rites carefully under strict supervision by a master of Tachikawa-ryu.
4) We vow to try not to argue or fight.
5) We vow to try and avoid competing, making unconstructive criticisms, or blame each other.
6) We vow to try not to over indulge in food or drink.
The Buddha couple should bathe together in a curative hot spring without physical contact. The couple must be in perfect accord in body, mind, and speech. The couple must be in bright, positive mood, free of gloom, despair, or unhappiness. The man is venerated as Fudo Myo-O ; the woman is venerated and embodies Aizen myo-O . The holy couple faces each other and they make the three prostrations. Reciting:
Male: "I aspire to enter the Womb Realm."
Female: "I aspire to receive the Diamond Realm."
The room must be spotless and absolutely clean, well secluded, with a small altar. The secret Buddha image is kept veiled, not to be uncovered until after the rites are performed. Kuden , the instructions regarding the Buddha image are only to transmitted orally and never written down. Fresh flowers are placed on the altar, together with appropriate seasonal offerings from the mountains and the sea. Kindle fragrant incense. Light the room with five candles.
The Buddha image is one's own body. Therefore, the man and woman shed their robes in the corner and face each other completely naked and adorned. The Rites are to begin at midnight. The man crosses his legs in the full lotus position and the woman sits on the top of the man and lets his jeweled jade stem enter her mysterious gate.. During the sexual congress of the two roots of existence, the breath should be harmonized in an A and Un rhythm. The man should keep his vajra pressed against the woman's womb as they meditate together, blending the male/female components of the five elements : earth, water, fire, wood, and air/void. If done properly, this blending of the elements will form a five-colored rainbow: yellow, blue, red, green, and white. The mother/father buddha posture is best, but other postures and mantra are allowed.
However, at the break of dawn when the rooster crows, the Buddha couple should be in the mother/father posture. At that time, the Buddha couple should come to a mutual instant of universal bliss; that is the moment of universal truth, a state of pure ecstasy, an unobstructed integration of emptiness and form. This is the realm of Dainichi Nyorai, the Cosmic Buddha where myriad elements exist in perfect equilibrium."
The Tachikawa Skull Ritual
Among the many rituals and rites practiced by Tachikawa-ryu was the famous Skull Ritual. Rituals involving the use of human or animal skulls are not uncommon. The exact origins of the Tachikawa-ryu Skull Ritual are unknown, but it appears from historical texts to be similar in ritual to Anuttarayoga tantras of Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana-tantra, in particular of particularly Hevajra Tantra and Candamaharosana Tantra. However, without further evidence no other conclusion as to its origin can be made.The description of the Tachikawa-ryu Skull Ritual comes from unknown Shingon monk named Shinjō. Little if anything is known about Shinjō except what he writes about himself. The Skull Ritual is detailed in one of his works titled Juhō Yōjinshū, written about 1270 AD. The ritual is described here as Shinjō describes it for the following reasons: this description is the best description of the ritual, the ritual itself is relatively unknown and shrouded in fallacy, and finally to preserve some record of the Tachikawa-ryu Skull Ritual for antiquity.
The Ritual is as follows: